I perish the day when Junior races a Saab



Dale Earnhardt Jr. could be Saabing if US automakers go out of business.

CEOs of the Big Three – General Motors, Ford and Chrysler – finally traded in their corporate jets for hybrid cars and went back to Congress with hats in hand to plead for bailouts.

In the meantime, NASCAR is wondering what its future would be without Chevys, Fords and Dodges to race for the Cup.

Since Bill France Sr. coaxed good ol’ boys to race their souped-up jalopies on tracks rather than country roads in the late ‘40s, the premier stock car racing circuit has grown to become known as one of the most popular sports in America.

A big part of that over the years is the identification of spectators with the brands of cars competing.

There’s always been the Chevy-Ford rivalry. Throw in a successful Dodge or Plymouth and you had almost all the car manufacturers and their customers represented.

OK, so Studebaker was never a factor but American once had a few cars on the track.

Drivers were known by the cars they drove. Junior Johnson led the Chevy camp in the ‘60s, David Pearson and Fred Lorenzon won with Fords and the Pettys did very well with Plymouth and Dodge.

If you were a Chevy man, you hated Lorenzon. Likewise, if you favored Fords you pulled for the “Silver Fox.”

The manufacturers used racing to develop cars for the future. As corporate sponsors, they learned from what happened to the cars during races.

Maybe that’s why the muscle car rage of the ‘60s and ‘70s was mostly an American phenomenon. Those European and Japanese carmakers, meanwhile, specialized in economy and precision.

The gas shortage of the mid-’70s went a long way toward popularizing foreign cars in the U.S. But GM, Ford and Chrysler were slow to change.

Toyota has been so successful in the U.S. market that the company actually had the gall to enter several of its cars into the Sprint Cup circuit a couple of years ago. After some growing pains the first year, Toyota can now race competitively against the big boys.

Now we have the global financial crisis with the resultant possibility of the Big Three going under. NASCAR teams under contract with Detroit manufacturers are unsure if they’ll have cars to drive in a year or two.

You have to wonder if the Rick Hendricks teams will soon be qualifying Volvos, Jack Roush will run BMWs or Richard Childress will select a fine French Citroën.

It’s enough to make Dale Earnhardt Sr. turn over in his grave.

Could he have been the Intimidator in a Honda Accord?

Richard Petty drives a big black Chrysler as his personal car. Will I see him at some point motoring a Mercedes 600SL?

Perish the day.



Larry Penkava, who has written Now and Then since 1994, would like to see Kasey Kahne in a Kia.